October 15th, 2010
The theme of Blog Action Day 2010 is clean water, a cause close to my heart since I live by an urban stream in north Seattle.
My neighborhood is called North Ballard by some, Broadview by others and Carkeek Park by still others. I call it the Pipers Creek Watershed.
The 1800 acre watershed is drained by a stream that used to be home to wild salmon. Those days are past, due probably to runoff from toxic lawns and oily streets. But local volunteers and the city have helped rehabilitate the stream, and it is populated by salmon again, albeit of the hatchery variety. (Though I’m told wild coho and steelhead are sometimes spotted in the creek.) The salmon should return in a few weeks. The run typically lasts from around Thanksgiving to mid-December.
How was Pipers Creek rehabilitated? A lot of volunteers, city workers and some grant money. So here’s a list of some resources to consider for your clean water project.
Of course there are the EPA (for example, the $5 billion Clean Water State Revolving Fund) and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
At the state level for Washington, the Department of Ecology is the source for clean water funds. There’s almost certainly a similar body in your state. Be aware that the state funds go mainly to governmental entities (counties, cities, conservation districts, tribes) but some nonprofits are eligible. Grant deadlines are typically in the fall, so go to their website now!
The Department of Ecology’s priorities are:
- Stream restoration and protection.
- Stormwater management and control.
- Construction of wastewater treatment plants and upgrades in small, financially-distressed towns.
- Planning, design and construction or upgrade of wastewater treatment facilities in large urban areas.
- On-site septic repair and replacement.
Normally, I would say think locally as well for grant funds.
Alas, this year’s budget crunch means money has dried up at both the county and city levels. (For example, the excellent WaterWorks program has been canceled, permanently it appears.) At the city level, there may be a few neighborhood grant funds. It’s a depressing situation, and I’m pretty sure Seattle is representative of most communities.
But when the economy rebounds (and it will), local clean water funding should return. In the meantime, I send out heart-felt thanks to all the volunteers that have helped restore urban creeks and streams in Seattle and beyond.
Your efforts are especially appreciated in these lean times!
Tags: clean water, environmental grant, environmentalism, grant sources, rfp
Posted in environmental grants, grant sources | No Comments »
September 15th, 2009
Today’s sample proposal takes us to Oakland.
The project had to strike a delicate balance. We needed to document both:
- my client’s street credibility (since we proposed outreach to sex workers and injecting drug users, groups that are extremely skittish about police and other officials), and
- my client’s medical chops (since the project included blood draws and STD HIV testing)
My client’s staff included former sex workers and injecting drug users, who were already doing AIDS HIV awareness outreach in the target neighborhood. They brought back first hand reports from the field, which I sprinkled throughout the proposal. That took care of issue 1.
To tackle issue 2, I made sure the budget included ample time and detailed job description for a phlebotomist. And we partnered with a local hospital with a lot of experience in AIDS HIV prevention and treatment. The hospital provided a letter that documented cash and in-kind support. I put that in bold to stress that, in general, support letters are a dime a dozen. But one that pledges material support…that’s gold. And grant proposal reviewers sit up and take notice.
This federal proposal was awarded $150,000 for each of three years for a total of $450,000. The granting agency was the Office of Minority Health. So, to win the grant, it was essential to document the number of minorities not only in the target population but also on the client’s board of directors and staff.
One last lesson from today’s sample proposal: Initially, we weren’t funded. We did get a glowing letter praising the project, with an apology to say they’d run out of funds. But we kept in contact with the funder. When they got an additional appropriation a few months later, we were at the head of the line.
Moral: Don’t give up, especially if you’ve gotten some positive feedback. A relationship with a funder is like any relationship. It’s based on keeping in touch. So don’t be shy about picking up the phone and calling a program officer!
Summary of the grant proposal: The 3-year project uses street level outreach to bring information about HIV and STD risk reduction to minority (emphasizing African-American) sex workers and injecting drug users (IDUs). The project also provides access to treatment at local medical/recovery facilities. Names of individuals and grantees have been altered to protect privacy. The narrative section of the proposal is attached. (Assurances, certifications, budgetary pages, and appendices have been omitted. For this reason, the attached materials are paginated from 19 to 51.)
If you have any questions about the proposal, just post a comment below. (No need to subscribe to the blog.)
See the FULL SAMPLE GRANT PROPOSAL HERE.
Tags: aids, california grants, cash match, government grants, hiv, letter of support, minority grants, sample grant, sample proposal
Posted in sample proposal | 11 Comments »
August 27th, 2009
You can’t get a degree in grant writing. Or if you can, it’s from some diploma mill and not worth the fake sheepskin it’s printed on. Two things count in grant writing: Experience and success. Proposals I’ve developed have brought in over $25 million. Some of them have been multi-million dollar grants, but plenty have been small grants between $2,500 and $50,000, probably the range you’re targeting, if you’re just beginning to write grants. That’s how I started out 20 years ago. For the first several years of my career, I worked as a grant writer and project developer within organizations. For the past dozen years, I’ve managed my own company, choosing clients who are a good fit with my experience and interests.
In these pages I’ll refer to a grant writer’s client, since I’m typically in a contractual relationship. Even if you work as an employee, it’s still useful to think of other parts of the organization (the board of directors, your direct supervisor, or even yourself wearing a different hat) as your clients. Why do I think this is helpful? I want repeat customers; therefore, I want happy customers. I want to build long-term relationships. Over the years, I’ve learned to resist the impulse to include elements in a proposal that I know will score points with reviewers, but will be impossible for my client to implement. Creating fantasy proposals may get money in the short run, but will corrode your relationships in the long run.
An admission: I’m a bit of a perfectionist. I know, I know. The books on interviewing technique tell you to mention this as a shortcoming when you’re asked to list your strengths and weaknesses. A bit precious. And some bosses and clients may actually believe obsessive perfectionism to be a good thing. My experience: It undermines effectiveness. Profoundly. With Voltaire, I’ve come to believe The perfect is the enemy of the good. There’s more on this topic in my preface to the Breast Cancer Awareness sample grant proposal.
The flip side of perfectionism is procrastination. Those of you who suffer the malady will likely understand that comment. Still, I will ponder the underlying psychology more in a future post. An anti-procrastination tool-kit is essential for the effective grant writer.
Tags: building client relationships, personal background, procrastination
Posted in psychology of grant writing | No Comments »
August 2nd, 2009
So you’ve just been thrown into the deep end…maybe you’re staff who’s just had grant writing added to your job description. Or maybe you’re a board member who’s volunteered to try to get funding for a new program.
Welcome to the world of grant writing. It can be overwhelming at first, trying to sort through the vegetable soup. (What’s the difference between an RFP and an RFQ?) As the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy so helpfully advises:
DON’T PANIC!
Consider me a friendly advisor.
First let me introduce myself…
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
